Documentation: clarify branch creation
The documentation seems to assume that the starting point for a new branch is the tip of an existing (ordinary) branch, but that is not the most common case. More often, "git branch" is used to begin a branch from a remote-tracking branch, a tag, or an interesting commit (e.g. origin/pu^2). Clarify the language so it can apply to these cases. Thanks to Sean Estabrooks for the wording. Also add a pointer to the user's manual for the bewildered. Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Jonathan Nieder committed
Oct 9, 2009 at 13:34 UTC
bb35f35e67ed2fdfce1892cc9d55827b90fcb775
1 file changed
+8
-8
Documentation/git-branch.txt
+8
-8
@@ -30,10 +30,8 @@ commit) will be listed. With `--no-merged` only branches not merged into
30
the named commit will be listed. If the <commit> argument is missing it
31
defaults to 'HEAD' (i.e. the tip of the current branch).
32
33
-In the command's second form, a new branch named <branchname> will be created.
34
-It will start out with a head equal to the one given as <start-point>.
35
-If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
36
-equal to that of the currently checked out branch.
33
+The command's second form creates a new branch head named <branchname>
34
+which points to the current 'HEAD', or <start-point> if given.
35
36
Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
37
working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the
@@ -149,9 +147,9 @@ start-point is either a local or remote branch.
147
may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
148
149
<start-point>::
152
- The new branch will be created with a HEAD equal to this. It may
153
- be given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this option
154
- is omitted, the current branch is assumed.
150
+ The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be
151
+ given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this
152
+ option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead.
153
154
<oldbranch>::
155
The name of an existing branch to rename.
@@ -216,7 +214,9 @@ SEE ALSO
214
--------
215
linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1],
216
linkgit:git-fetch[1],
219
-linkgit:git-remote[1].
217
+linkgit:git-remote[1],
218
+link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is
219
+a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual.
220
221
Author
222
------